Tony Blair legacy - Peace in North is his real triumph

AS Tony Blair, Britain’s Prime Minister, prepares to step down on June 27, it is timely to acknowledge his achievements in restoring peace and establishing a working democracy in Northern Ireland.

Where Ireland is concerned, few would deny that his record marks him out as one of the leading British prime ministers for centuries.

For more than 10 years, he has devoted unprecedented time and energy to resolving the North’s seemingly intractable problems. As Taoiseach Bertie Ahern succinctly put it, he will have an honoured place in the nation’s history.

The same cannot be said, however, of his role in the Iraqi debacle. The war was a pyrrhic victory and failure to win peace undermined his leadership of the Labour party. Typifying the Bush-Blair axis of denial, he insists he did what he thought was right.

However, if Iraq was his failure, Northern Ireland was Tony Blair’s enduring triumph.